Roughly 76% of businesses now use some form of marketing automation, yet most teams still spend hours deciding which email marketing automation software actually earns its place in their stack. The answer isn't the most popular platform or the one with the longest feature list. It's the one built for your business model, list size, and growth stage.
This guide cuts through the noise. It covers why the right email marketing automation software matters, what features to prioritize, and which platforms lead in 2024 for different use cases.
Key Takeaways
- Automated emails drove 37% of all ecommerce email revenue in 2024 despite representing just 2% of email volume.
- Automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated emails, and for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $36.
- The top five platforms for deliverability in 2024 are ActiveCampaign (94.2%), Constant Contact (91.7%), GetResponse (90.9%), Moosend (90.1%), and CleverReach (90%).
- ActiveCampaign delivers the most sophisticated automation workflows, while HubSpot provides a complete marketing ecosystem with CRM integration.
- The right email automation tool depends on factors like revenue goals, team capacity, existing tech stack, and compliance requirements.
Why Email Marketing Automation Software Matters in 2024
Email remains the highest-ROI channel in digital marketing, but sending manual campaigns doesn't scale. As of early 2024, 58% of marketing leaders reported automating their email campaigns, making it the most automated area in marketing.
The gap between manual and automated sending is measurable. According to Omnisend, automated emails see 84% higher open rates, 341% higher click rates, and a 2,270% increase in conversion rates compared to regular emails. That difference comes from timing and context: automated triggers reach subscribers based on their actual behavior, not a broadcast schedule.
Marketing automation can reduce operational costs by approximately 25 to 30%, and 91% of marketers say it helps them achieve their objectives. For growth teams managing multi-step nurture sequences, those savings compound quickly.
The global marketing automation industry is projected to generate $8.23 billion in revenue in 2024, and estimates suggest it will more than double by 2032, surpassing $21 billion. The market has matured: what was once enterprise-only is now accessible to small teams at every budget level.
What to Look for in Email Marketing Automation Software
Choosing by feature count alone leads to paying for capabilities you'll never use. Focus on four core dimensions:
1. Automation depth
Two platforms can both claim "automation" while delivering wildly different experiences. One might offer simple drip sequences while another orchestrates multi-step behavioral journeys across email, SMS, and web. Assess whether the platform supports conditional branching, goal-based exits, and behavioral triggers, not just autoresponders.
2. Deliverability
Software that lands in spam folders defeats the purpose. Deliverability depends on list hygiene, authentication setup, and sender reputation, not just the platform. Independently tested inbox placement rates matter far more than vendor claims.
3. Segmentation and personalization
Email marketing automation platforms help businesses send targeted, personalized emails at scale by automating workflows, segmenting audiences, and integrating with CRM and ecommerce tools. Platforms that unify behavioral, demographic, and purchase data enable the kind of segmentation that drives real revenue. For a deeper look at what segmentation can do for ROI, see email list segmentation strategies that boost ROI by 760%.
4. Pricing model
Some platforms charge per contact while others charge per email sent, meaning the cost calculation looks very different depending on your list size and sending frequency. A volume-based model like Brevo's can cost significantly less for large, infrequently emailed lists, while contact-based models from platforms like ActiveCampaign offer more predictable pricing for teams that send often.
The Best Email Marketing Automation Software in 2024: Platform by Platform
ActiveCampaign: Best for Advanced Automation
ActiveCampaign offers the most sophisticated automation with 900+ pre-built workflows, conditional splits, goals, and machine learning-powered predictive sending. Its visual workflow builder handles complex multi-step journeys that other platforms hit a wall on.
Marketing teams using ActiveCampaign save an average of 10 hours weekly across tasks like campaign building, content creation, and lead follow-up. The built-in CRM with automated lead scoring eliminates the need for a separate CRM tool for most SMBs.
EmailToolTester's latest deliverability tests scored ActiveCampaign at a 94.2% deliverability rate, placing it first out of 15 tools tested.
The trade-off is pricing. ActiveCampaign uses tiered pricing based on contact count and plan level. Starter at 1,000 contacts is $15/month, but most B2B teams need Plus at $49/month for CRM and lead scoring features.
Best for: Growing SMBs, B2B companies, and SaaS teams with complex nurture sequences. If you're building a SaaS email marketing strategy, ActiveCampaign's behavioral triggers and CRM sync are hard to match at this price point.
Klaviyo: Best for Ecommerce
Klaviyo is the undisputed leader in ecommerce email marketing, powering brands that have generated over $45 billion in attributed revenue through the platform.
Klaviyo integrates deeply with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce for behavior-based automation, predictive analytics, and revenue attribution. Its flows trigger on product views, cart abandonment, purchase history, and predicted lifetime value, giving ecommerce brands precise control over every stage of the buyer journey.
Welcome emails in ecommerce achieve an 83.6% open rate, the highest of any automated email type, and in 2024, automated welcome emails had an average conversion rate of nearly 3%. Klaviyo's pre-built flows make deploying these sequences fast. For proven tactics on structuring those sequences, see welcome email sequence best practices: 7 proven strategies.
Pricing scales with list size. Email-only at 1,000 profiles is $30/month, scaling to $150/month at 10,000 and $720/month at 50,000.
Best for: Shopify and WooCommerce brands doing meaningful revenue from email. For serious Shopify stores doing $500,000 or more annually, Klaviyo is likely the right choice.
HubSpot Marketing Hub: Best for CRM-Led Teams
For most scaling B2B and SaaS teams, HubSpot's Marketing Hub can be the most complete option. The automation depth, native CRM, AI tools, and usable free tier make it the lowest-risk starting point for teams that expect to grow into more sophisticated programs.
When Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, and Service Hub are all deployed together, data flows cleanly between them in a way that purpose-built integrations rarely match. Attribution works properly. Sales reps can see exactly which emails a lead opened.
The cost curve is the main concern. HubSpot's Professional tier, where meaningful automation actually lives, starts at $890/month, a stark contrast to ActiveCampaign's comparable Plus tier at $49/month.
Best for: Enterprise marketing teams and B2B organizations where sales-to-marketing alignment justifies the investment.
Brevo: Best for Volume-Based Senders on a Budget
Formerly Sendinblue, Brevo is a multi-channel marketing platform offering email, SMS, WhatsApp, and chat. Its pricing model based on email volume rather than contacts makes it affordable for large lists.
Brevo's free forever plan allows up to 100,000 contacts and includes automation, 40+ email templates, signup forms, and up to 9,000 emails per month. Paid plans start at $9/month for 5,000 emails, with the Business tier starting at $18/month for 5,000 emails with advanced automation.
Best for: Businesses with large lists who email infrequently, and teams that need CRM plus email under one budget-friendly roof.
Mailchimp: Best for Beginners
Mailchimp pioneered the email marketing industry and remains the default choice for beginners, with 13 million users and the most recognizable name in the space. Its drag-and-drop editor and template library make it easy to launch a first campaign fast.
The limitations appear at scale. Once you start scaling, Mailchimp's automation handles basic sequences like welcome emails and abandoned cart reminders, but conditional branching, goal tracking, and complex behavioral workflows hit a wall. You can't build a sophisticated lead nurture sequence the way you can in ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo.
Mailchimp counts contacts per audience, so if the same person appears on two lists, you're billed twice. Paid plans start at $26.50/month for 1,000 contacts and costs scale steeply.
Best for: Solopreneurs, very small teams, and businesses in their first year who prioritize ease of use over automation depth.
Omnisend: Best Ecommerce Alternative to Klaviyo
Omnisend is the best multichannel email automation platform for online stores, with pre-built ecommerce workflows and built-in SMS credits included in its plans. Omnisend's Standard plan starts at $16/month with email send limits of 12x your contact count.
Omnisend is a strong alternative to Klaviyo at a lower price point. It covers abandoned cart, welcome series, post-purchase, and win-back flows out of the box without the per-profile cost increases Klaviyo introduced in 2025.
Best for: Growing ecommerce brands that need solid automation at a fraction of Klaviyo's price.
Automation Types Every Platform Should Support
Regardless of which platform you choose, these are the automation sequences that deliver the most measurable returns:
- Welcome series: The top three most automated emails were welcome emails at 83%, onboarding or post-purchase at 68%, and subscriber re-engagement at 40%.
- Abandoned cart: Abandoned cart emails recover 3 to 5% of lost sales on average, and sending 3 emails in a sequence recovers 69% more orders than sending just one.
- Behavioral triggers: Emails fired by page visits, product views, or purchase patterns consistently outperform broadcast campaigns.
- Re-engagement flows: Keeping inactive subscribers off your list protects deliverability and reduces cost on contact-based pricing models.
- Post-purchase sequences: The expansion of ecommerce is driving the need for email solutions that support customer acquisition, retention, and conversion, and ecommerce businesses use email campaigns for personalized product recommendations, cart abandonment reminders, and order updates.
For hands-on guidance on setting up these workflows inside your CRM, the email marketing automation CRM setup guide walks through the technical configuration step by step.
How to Choose: A Decision Framework
There is no single best tool. The right platform depends entirely on your use case, team size, and budget. Use this framework to narrow down your options:
| Business Type | Recommended Platform |
|---|---|
| Advanced automation, B2B/SaaS | ActiveCampaign |
| Ecommerce (high revenue) | Klaviyo |
| Ecommerce (budget-conscious) | Omnisend |
| CRM-led enterprise | HubSpot |
| High-volume, large lists | Brevo |
| Beginners and solopreneurs | Mailchimp or MailerLite |
Most platforms offer free trials. Test two or three options with real campaigns before committing. Pay attention to deliverability, ease of use, and how well the platform integrates with your existing tools.
One metric often overlooked during evaluation is analytics depth. A platform that shows open rates but not revenue attribution or lifecycle stage leaves you guessing about ROI. See the email marketing analytics best practices guide for the metrics that actually indicate campaign health.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is email marketing automation software?
Marketing automation software handles the repetitive, logic-driven parts of marketing: sending emails based on contact behavior, scoring leads, routing them to sales, running A/B tests, and managing campaigns across channels. The goal is to engage the right leads at the right time with the right message, without doing it manually.
Which email marketing automation software has the best deliverability?
The top five platforms for deliverability in 2024 are ActiveCampaign (94.2%), Constant Contact (91.7%), GetResponse (90.9%), Moosend (90.1%), and CleverReach (90%). Deliverability also depends on your list hygiene, authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and sending consistency, not the platform alone.
Is email marketing automation worth the cost for small businesses?
Yes, for most. Small businesses see a 25% increase in marketing ROI when they start using automation. Affordable, cloud-based email automation solutions are now available for small businesses, offering advanced features that go well beyond a basic autoresponder. Brevo, MailerLite, and Moosend all have usable free plans that let you test before committing to paid tiers.
How do I know when to switch email marketing platforms?
The clearest signals are: your automation workflows have outgrown the platform's capabilities, your costs are scaling faster than your list or revenue, deliverability has declined, or your CRM and email tool don't sync reliably. When migrating, export your list, create matching custom fields in the new platform, import, and re-authenticate your domain. Plan for one to two weeks transition time to protect your sender reputation.
